biffa, SMJ, espins1......Where O Where Have Some of Our Armor Buddies Gone??

Bish

I agree, all forums suffer from this, as does other things in life. A lot of people come and go, and small few are die hards who will always be there. It can be hard for the 'lifers' when a group of regulars leave and new guys come in. But on this site at least, guys like yourself, DoogsATX and others have settled right in and seem like they have been here for years.

You do have to be careful about terms you use when on a site like this with people from all over the world. I come from Norfolk and a traditional term there is BOY. But i tend not to use it, even in everyday life, as some people could take it the wrong way.

I'm sure in a couple of years Ben you will be woundering where everyone has gone and where all these noods (i hate that term) have come from.

Very true Bish,

Like you say - where you are from it's 'boy', around here in the Midlands is always 'lads' and making a very quick switch of main hobby/interest from shooting large calibre rifles where all the members on the forums devoted to shooting would use English words seeing it was a 100% UK forum and then going to a US forum and using the same words caused some to take a hostile view of some of the terms used. Personally I didn't give it a thought and looking back should have and used that in my defence.

I now just use the term chaps or guys - no problems.

Having been a member on here for maybe 3 years now I've seem LOTS come and go already!

The hobby has really taken off big time during the few years I've been building and there are a LOT of forums around so no doubt some find a forum that is better suited to them and we never hear from then again!

Ben

I agree, all forums suffer from this, as does other things in life. A lot of people come and go, and small few are die hards who will always be there. It can be hard for the 'lifers' when a group of regulars leave and new guys come in. But on this site at least, guys like yourself, DoogsATX and others have settled right in and seem like they have been here for years.

You do have to be careful about terms you use when on a site like this with people from all over the world. I come from Norfolk and a traditional term there is BOY. But i tend not to use it, even in everyday life, as some people could take it the wrong way.

I'm sure in a couple of years Ben you will be woundering where everyone has gone and where all these noods (i hate that term) have come from.

I think this is the same syndrome of most forums devoted to hobbies.

People burn out / get bored and lose interest or move to another branch of the hobby away from Armour.

I recently visited my old rifle shooting forum (it's been two years since I went on there) and didn't know anyone! ALL the 'faces' were gone? Sick of the politics as it was a very clique site.

Shnobbs last communication to me was a not very nice pm saying stop calling everyone 'lads' i.e no more 'hi lads' as it was offensive and made people feel like they were being called a boy?????

In England (for starters) 'lads' is a general term used to describe a group of gents in the same room or a group of people you know i.e. you might say "the lads from the 'blah blah' forum"!!! We use the term all the time! In conversatiob

As a newbie at the time I haven't used the word on here since - he seemed to know everyone so who was I to argue??

Ah well!

I think there's a great group of guys on here now - well balanced and full of helpful advice!

To the FSM Forum! A great place!

Ben

Isn't Steve (Crockett) doing planes now? I know he always kind of bounced back and forth between the two.

Browniii he comes on from time to time  but i think he is like me once you have had an incident like his it takes all the real enthuseasm out of blogging to that degree out of you. I had a similar thing on here which done the same to me. I have never blogged the same since.

Bodge

By the way Manny Schnobbs was bulied out if i recal on one of his posts and he couldnt believe people that he thought were friends having a go and joining in aswell. I still speak to him on another site and he will never come back here. Which is the forums biggest loss in my eyes because he really went to town on blogging his builds and his ability has gone from beginner to master in modelling. Shame that.

Ahhhh, Schnobs.... yeah that was an interesting exit. I wouldn't say he was bullied out. I He just didn't take well to the critique he was receiving about his dio idea and kind of blew up on everyone. I think he didn't take the comments in the manner they were intended.  I agree though - it is too bad because his stuff, and the way he blogged it, was really well done. I followed him for a bit over on Military Modeler, but then it seemed he stopped posting there. Bodge, where is he these days? I'd really like to see some of his recent stuff.

redleg12

SMJ is also out there but has switched his interest to model RR

panzerguy (ahhh, I miss him) was last seen at the Wings and Wheels sow last fall. He was being overwheled with his job??

SMJ switched to RR stuff for financial reasons - last time I talked to him (probably 6 months ago?) he'd been doing custom weathering for RR trains and building on commission. Said he REALLY missed the armor, though!

Panzerguy - just saw Steve at Wings and Wheels last month. He's doing well, just not building as much as he was...unfortunate, as his dios were getting published. Hopes to get back to it this year.

Crockett - somebody said they saw him - what's he doing now?

tigerman

Another good member was Larry aka PlasticCross or something like that. See it's been so long.

YEP!! Another good member we don't hear from anymore.  Larry's last post seems to have been back in June 2009

Manny, thanks for this list!  You're right, there are some folks here that I definitely remember!    A little bit like a trip down memory lane! 

redleg12

OK...lets see

Scott Espins is alive and well. he is on facebook now and then. He has surcome to shipbuilding was the last I heard

So that's what happend to Scott.   BTW, what's facebook?

SMJ is also out there but has switched his interest to model RR

Glad to hear he's still into the hobby, but too bad he didn't stay with armor!

panzerguy (ahhh, I miss him) was last seen at the Wings and Wheels sow last fall. He was being overwheled with his job??

Shoot, I totally forgot about him!  Another great guy that is missed!

Wing nut is sort of taking a break. He is devoting more time to the job and family for a while.

We miss ya Marc, but we know you'll be back!

PS...Rick is not only on ML but he is MIG USA....

....and Rick is probably waiting for my next order!

That is the S2 from my end.

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks for the intel redleg!

OK...lets see

Scott Espins is alive and well. he is on facebook now and then. He has surcome to shipbuilding was the last I heard

SMJ is also out there but has switched his interest to model RR

panzerguy (ahhh, I miss him) was last seen at the Wings and Wheels sow last fall. He was being overwheled with his job??

Wing nut is sort of taking a break. He is devoting more time to the job and family for a while.

PS...Rick is not only on ML but he is MIG USA....

That is the S2 from my end.

Rounds Complete!!

Another good member was Larry aka PlasticCross or something like that. See it's been so long.

And what about some lesser-known folks:

model maniac 96

Buddho

panzerguy

namerednef

sfcmac

Vespa boy

jthurston

airtrans crash...

???

Wow what a diorama,worthy of a best of show at Euro that one. Really taken modelling to another level. Glad i stopped by now.

By the way Manny Schnobbs was bulied out if i recal on one of his posts and he couldnt believe people that he thought were friends having a go and joining in aswell. I still speak to him on another site and he will never come back here. Which is the forums biggest loss in my eyes because he really went to town on blogging his builds and his ability has gone from beginner to master in modelling. Shame that.

Wow, thanks for sharing Tread. That is an amazingly haunting dio.

Hermesminiatures is another guy missing. He used to crank out some great armor.

Hi Manstein :  )

Rick Lawler is regularly on Missing Lynx...producing some excellent ,touching work:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1330285943/Burden+of+Sorrow

take a look at the link.... i promise you will be impressed

tread

                  Have not heard from Kykeon,I believe he has a vast selection of refs., for some time.I seem to recall he was battling medical issues as well.

                  Labour-in-vain,last spoke to him 10 2011,dealing with eye problems.

                  Can only hope for the positive.

                                                Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Then there was Rick Lawler and Schnobs (sp?)...SteveM went awal for awhile (he is mostly a dio guy) but came back and has a WIP in Dios...He actually sold off everything then came back into the hobby after a year...

real life catches up to us

I didn't realise SMJ had posted that recently. I recall this being brought up a while ago and he replied explaining his absence, but i can't remember what it was. I learnt a lot from him when it came to building armour. His weathering steps are now what i base my own armour weatheirng on. And his Big Cats GB was the first GB i took part in which was my firts build after a break form the hobby.

Gone to that 'ol scrapyard in the fields I suppose.

Man there are so many awol Ernest. Yes Biffa is missed greaty. Last I recall he had some health issues. I hope all is well.

I know there is more. One of the original members Erock? came back and briefly joined one of my GB's. I think he was in the Panzerjaeger GB. He has since quickly disappeared.

Ernest , i saw Scott on another model site back in 2010 . He was building armor and aircraft .He was doing kit reviews but i dont know for who . Him and DrewH kept in contact back then . That site folded up and i havent heard from him since then .

Carl, yes!  Scott Espins from Reno, NV aka espins1.   Last I remember we had wrapped up his Red Storm on the Reich group build back in late 2009 and then......?   I don't know if he lost interest in the hobby or moved to another site.  Now that I think about it, I believe either he or his wife was having medical problems?  I wonder if that caused him to leave.

Same with biffa.  I remember he disappeared for a while, then returned saying he had some heatlh issues that caused his absence.  He was active for a few months, then vanished again and hasn't returned.   I hope both of these fine fellas are at least happy and healthy!

I agree that there are many other sites out there with their own forums or discussion boards.  I've even been tempted to join some others myself, but I consider FSM to be myn original home and there are still so many members here I consider modeling buddies, so how can I truly leave? 

Ernest , is espins1 Scott Espins from Reno ?

Since i came back a while ago it seems to me that the Armor forums have slowed down a little . Maybe all of the other  forums have also but i frequent the Armor most of the time . I dont know , maybe its due to there being more forums out there .